Unloading of grounded ship in the St. Lawrence postponed to Saturday [Video]

An operation to off-load thousands of tonnes of corn from a ship that ran aground in the St. Lawrence River northeast of Montreal has been postponed to the weekend.

The plan had been to start unloading the MV Maccoa Thursday, but Fisheries and Oceans Canada said the barges needed to carry the corn are still being readied in Quebec City.

Once ready, the barges from the company Ocean Group will make the 20-hour journey to an area near Vercheres, Que., where the Cyprus-flagged 185-metre bulk carrier ran aground in the early hours of Dec. 24, said Amelie Boisjoly-Lavoie, acting deputy superintendent of the Canadian Coast Guard’s marine hazards and environmental response team.

“We hope that the barges will be ready today (Thursday) so the transit could take place tomorrow,” Boisjoly-Lavoie said, adding that preparing the barges has taken longer than expected, likely because of the holiday period.

More than 3,000 …